HOPES that the Made In Britain stamp will drive recovery suffered a blow yesterday. Official figures showed the total trade deficit widened in June from £2.4billion to £2.5billion.

The pounds strength is pushing the price of british exports up [GETTY]

When services such as banking and finance are excluded the deficit goes up from £9.2billion to £9.4billion, the worst since January.

Our exporters are facing two problems. One is that the eurozone, their biggest customer, is stuck in the doldrums and the other is that the pound remains very strong against the single currency, pushing up the price of exports while holding down the cost of imports.

It means the UK has to rely on self-help and fortunately on that front the signs are better.

Construction output was 5.3 per cent up on a year earlier, separate figures showed.

While that is good news output remains 10 per cent below the pre-crisis peak, so there is a long way to go yet.

The reforms put in place at the Co-operative Group (see below) should be welcomed though some critics think they have not gone far enough.

It has stopped short of the full recommendations of Lord Myners who drew up a blueprint for change after the disastrous management left the Co-op Bank on the brink of collapse and the group nursing £2.5billion of losses.

The proposed overhaul is far-reaching and will leave the mutual organisation with a board structure that more resembles a traditional Plc. Co-op members should note that employee-owned John Lewis does something similar and has achieved commercial success without losing its principles.

A few years ago only seasoned travellers to the Middle East would have heard of Etihad but now it is a household name.

It is a sign of how power in the airline industry has shifted that yesterday Etihad came to the rescue of Alitalia with a deal that sees it take a 49 per cent stake in order to keep Italy’s struggling flag carrier airborne.